Sew Good, Sew Good

My New Sewing Machine

Since I’ve been sewing like a fiend, I slowly began to realize that even though I would only categorize myself as an ambitious beginner sewiest, my Smarter by Pfaff was getting to be a little too entry level for me.

If you find yourself looking for a first machine this one is wonderful, I’ve loved it practically to death over the last year. I guess you could say I’ve outgrown it. I started researching the different brands online and saving shortly after Christmas and actually learned a few pieces of interesting information.

Pfaff is owned by Singer which was a new piece of information for me.

Janome sells different machines in the US than the rest of the world.

The average home sewist in the US owns 3 different machines.

The most important fact I learned: Bernina sewing machines are largely still manufactured in Switzerland with some work being done in Thailand,

This information was important to me because I like when companies are honest. Some sewing machine companies still talk about their heritage as if it matters. If your machines are 100% manufactured in China or Indonesia I don’t really care that they were once made in the US or Germany. I would rather spend more money and have a top notch machine that was constructed well. My grandmother has had her sewing machine since the 70’s and with routine maintenance she has never had any trouble. I WANT THAT! From my research, the Bernina 215 seemed like a good choice for me. However, when I took my cape making class at Gather Here we used the 350 PE which was amazing. At that point I was 100% certain that a Bernina would be coming to live with me but was conflicted about which machine to actually buy. It was a chance Instagram conversation with Heather Lou, Lauren Taylor and two other sewers who also commented in late January that sealed the deal for me.

So from January until mid-May, I’m saving and asking for gift cards to Gather Here for my birthday since they are a Bernina dealer and boom! The store where my grandmother has her machine serviced in NH had a barely used 350PE floor model on sale for nearly $600 cheaper than a brand new one! They service machines at Nashua Sew and Vac so it came with two years of free maintenance making this purchase a no brainer.

Without further ado let me introduce you to Hubert, as in Hubert de Givenchy. I know he is French and Bernina is a Swiss company but I like to name my sewing machines after the people who dressed Audrey Hepburn 🙂

If you’re worried about what I did with all the gift cards to Gather Here, don’t worry, they went to good use. I got the invisible zipper foot and walking foot for Hubert plus I went on a serious fabric and pattern buying binge.

Audrey with the original Hubert

You can read all about the friendship between Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Givenchy here. It’s a lovely story.